Civil War
by DarthRevan2552
Summary: The Jedi Civil War has begun, plunging the galaxy into chaos. World after world falls to Darth Revan's Sith armada, and the Republic is getting desperate. Merely a year after the defeat of the Aparoids, the Star Fox team has all but broken up and is struggling to get by. But when the Republic requests their help, its back to the battlefield for Fox and his new teammates.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

The ancient turbolift slowed it's ascent as it neared it's destination. Once it came to a full stop, the door hissed open and a tall figure stepped out and into the expansive room before him. He wore a crimson metal chest-piece that was layered above a set of loosely fitting dark robes. A long hood draped down around his head and shrouded his masked face. A long, black cape flowed behind him as he made his way to the massive glass viewport that stared out into the infinite darkness of space. The man stopped as he reached the viewport and looked out at the countless stars dotting the void. He clasped his hands behind his back and took a moment to revel in his accomplishment.

The relic that he stood upon was something that he had never dreamed could exist. An ancient space station that could produce the greatest army that the galaxy had ever witnessed. A massive factory that was fueled by the dark side of the Force. A machine of invincible might, and a tool of unstoppable conquest. He had heard it be called these things many times in his search for it. An entire year had been dedicated to a tireless quest to complete the star map that would reveal the long lost location of this ancient relic of the dark side. And now, after a year of searching, he finally had control of the most powerful tool ever constructed.

And he had great plans for how he would use it.

The man's thoughts were interrupted as he heard the turbolift's door slide open behind him. He reached out with the Force and sensed his friend stepping off of the lift and onto the observation deck.

"The Star Forge has awoken to us, Revan." The new arrival said as he approached the robed man near the viewport. "Everything is proceeding as we had anticipated."

"Excellent, Malak." Revan said as he turned to face his friend. The bald human had two blue-gray tattoos that ran parallel to each other down his forehead and across his scalp and sharp, angular features that complimented his square jaw. His once fairly toned skin was now incredibly pale, and his eyes now a silvery gray after being corrupted by the dark side.

"This place is so strong in the dark side." Malak said. "I can feel the power coursing through its foundation. It is like nothing I have ever experienced."

"It is a glorious feeling, my friend." Revan said as he reached to remove his mask. He slowly peeled the cool metal away from his flesh, revealing his sulfuric yellow eyes and his heavily corrupted face. "And that power is all ours to command."

"But what of the Emperor's orders?" Malak questioned. "We were to return to him once we discovered the Star Forge's location."

"The Emperor can rot on his throne." Revan hissed. "Someone as weak as him doesn't deserve the power that the Star Forge has to offer. We searched the galaxy, we found the star maps and we awoke the Star Forge. I don't recall the Emperor doing anything more than sending us away to do his chores for him."

Malak was about protest, but Revan had a point. What had the Sith Emperor done for them aside from send them off to find the Star Forge? He figured it would be smarter to trust his old friend's judgement as opposed to that of an old fool hiding in the unknown regions of the galaxy. "Very well," Malak finally said. "What did you have in mind?"

Revan's mouth curled into a malicious grin. "We use the power of the Star Forge and form our own Sith Empire." he said in a sinister tone. "With the Star Forge in our hands, we can conquer the galaxy and rule with an iron fist!"

"Our own Sith Empire..." Malak almost whispered as he imagined the absolute power they would possess. "The idea of it is almost overwhelming!"

"But it is within our grasp." Revan said as he slapped a hand onto Malak's shoulder. "Together, we shall crush the Republic and reign together as dark lords of the Sith. For eons, the people of the galaxy shall remember Darths Revan and Malak as the founders of the greatest empire that has ever existed!"

Malak's lips contorted into the same twisted grin Revan displayed as he envisioned the collapse of the Republic and the fall of the Jedi Order as their great empire swept across the galaxy in an unstoppable conquest. A few seconds passed before he finally said, "So it shall be, Revan."

"So it shall be." Revan echoed as he re-fastened his mask to his face. He turned his gaze back to the infinite expanse of space. "Our Sith Empire is born," He said. "Here. Tonight."

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hey, all. Thanks for reading. I know, very short prologue. But, never fear! I shall be working on this as often as possible, so you can expect a new chapter every few weeks or so. But for now, tell me what you think and how you think I can improve this.**


	2. Chapter 1: Bounty Hunting

CHAPTER 1: BOUNTY HUNTING

Eren walked briskly down the packed streets, his astromech droid, Whistler, scooting along behind him. The commercial district of Corneria City was as busy as ever. A mix of various sentient species populated the streets, though humans and native Cornerians made up the vast majority of the group. The neutrality of the crowd along with his unassuming features - light skin, dark brown hair, hazel eyes and decent build - allowed him to easily avoid attention, something that was highly advantageous for a bounty hunter. However, while being anonymous was beneficial for Eren, the lack of attention meant that some people would accidentally stumble over Whistler.

The astromech gave off a series of irritated chirps to express his displeasure as a Cornerian feline tripped on the little droid.

"You didn't have to come with me," Eren said to Whistler. "You could've stayed on the ship while I took care of the job."

The droid responded with a low, aggressive buzz, causing Eren to chuckle before saying, "Save that for when we find the guy. I didn't fit you with that blaster so you could go mowing down civilians."

After several minutes, the duo had reached their destination: the Viperian Lounge, a cantina in the north-eastern corner of the commercial district and the favorite spot of many people in the city, including the man Eren was looking for. As the human and his droid approached the entrance to the Viperian, the sliding durasteel doors hissed open and an intoxicated vulpine stumbled out into the crowded streets. Eren rolled his eyes at the drunken man and stepped into the darkly lit establishment, Whistler scooting along at his heel.

The Viperian was alive with activity. Heavy bass laden music pulsed through the speaker systems set up throughout the cantina. Every table in the pazaak hall was occupied with people gambling away their savings. Several men were enthralled by the group of Cornerian dancers performing on an elevated stage set up in the center of the cantina floor. Eren strode over to the bar counter and sat down on one of the stools. He whistled to get the bartender's attention. A young human - probably in his early twenties - turned to face him.

Eren took five credits out of the pocket of his black Corellian flight jacket and placed them on the counter between him and the barkeep. "Give me a hit of juma." He said. The bartender nodded and turned his attention to the assorted bottles of liquor on the shelf behind him. He turned back around and placed a small glass filled with a bright yellow liquid on the counter, taking the credits Eren had laid out as he did so.

Eren took the drink and turned his stool to look around the cantina. Whistler turned with him and chirped inquisitively.

"No, I don't see him yet." Eren replied. He reached to his belt and took his datapad out of its leather housing. He sifted through the many files on it until he reached the information on the bounty he was hunting. The document read:

** DASH DELLIS**

** SPECIES: HUMAN**

** GENDER: MALE**

** WANTED FOR MURDER, ASSAULT AND LARCENY**

** REWARD: 15,000 CREDITS ALIVE, 5,000 DEAD**

Eren scrolled to the bottom of the document and looked at Dellis' portrait. The light wrinkles forming in his face suggested that he was probably in his mid forties. His shoulder length hair was pitch black and unkempt. His dark brown eyes stared directly at the device that had taken his picture and the short stubble on his chin was getting long and scraggly. Eren looked up from the datapad and scanned the cantina floor again, searching for anyone who fit the portrait. A few seconds passed before he finally saw him. Dellis was sitting in the far corner of the cantina, sipping on a green tinged drink while a curvy Cornerian vixen gave him a private dance.

Eren smirked. "I found our guy, Whistler." he said as he patted the astromech on the head.

Whistler pivoted his head to look at Dellis. He gave off a small stream of beeps and whistles.

"No, I don't think he's seen us." Eren said. "Follow my lead." He downed his drink in a single swig and placed the empty glass on the counter behind him before getting up from his barstool. He started his walk across the expansive cantina floor to the corner where Dellis sat, Whistler scooting along the floor next to him.

_Just give him_ o_ne quick stun round and I can get out of here and get paid. _Eren thought to himself. Before he was even halfway across the floor, he felt an all too familiar tingling sensation in the back of his head. The Force was warning him about something. Thanks to his training as a Jedi, Eren was able to sense impending threats through the Force, an ability that saved his life many times before and one that proved to be ever useful since he left the Jedi Order and started his life as a bounty hunter.

Eren stopped in his tracks and sighed. _Guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought I was. _He thought to himself as the tingling feeling intensified. He wrapped his fingers around the blaster strapped to his hip and turned around to see what was threatening him. Three men armed with blaster pistols were approaching him from the pazaak hall.

"Like the looks of our boss?" The leading man said sarcastically.

"Not him, his dancer." Eren replied calmly. "Her, and the fifteen thousand credit bounty on your boss' head."

"Wise guy, eh?" the man said as he leveled his weapon with Eren's head, both of his friends following suit. "We'll see how smart you are when we splatter your brains all over this club!"

Before the men could fire their weapons, Eren drew his blaster from it's holster and pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession. A second later, all three men fell dead to the ground, each with a burning hole in their chest. Virtually everyone in the cantina stopped what they were doing and turned to face the source of the disturbance and there was a chorus of gasps as the patron's eyes fell upon the crumpled up dead humans on the floor. Eren turned his head to the back of the club just in time to see Dellis slip out through the Viperian's back door. Eren took off in a full sprint after Dellis with Whistler doing his best to keep up.

The duo chased their quarry out of the cantina and into a dimly lit alleyway. Dellis looked over his shoulder and leveled a pistol with his pursuers. He pulled the trigger twice, sending two crimson blaster bolts scorching passed Eren's shoulders. Eren returned fire, but his shots went wild and completely missed their mark.

"Get back here, you frelling coward!" Eren shouted after Dellis as he chased him into the crowded streets of the commercial district.

* * *

Fox sighed as he looked at the three dead humans in the center of the cantina. That kid was sloppy. He made no attempt to conceal his weapons and it was painfully obvious who he was looking for. Then, to add insult to injury, he took a direct approach to the target rather than waiting him out. It was no wonder those mercenaries had caught onto him so quickly. And now he was off chasing his quarry through the city streets. Chasing the same man that Fox had come here to find.

The tan vulpine looked to the fennec vixen sitting next to him. She buried her face in her hands and groaned. "Was that our guy?" she asked.

"Yep," Fox replied as he stood up. "Let's go."

"Go where?"

"After Dellis."


	3. Chapter 2: Dead or Alive

**UPDATE: So, being the idiot that I am, I decided not to proof-read this chapter until after I had already posted it. (Derp derp) And after looking back through it and taking note of PkmnMaster Rolf's review, I found a few things that kinda irked me. So, for those of you who may be re-reading this for some reason, do note that there have been a few changes made. Nothing major, but a few changes I felt were necessary. So, here is the final version of Chapter 2. I hope I don't end up derping up like this again in the future.**

CHAPTER 2: DEAD OR ALIVE

Eren made a hard right turn into one of Corneria City's many alleyways, Whistler rolling along behind him. Dellis was about ten meters ahead, making an all out sprint towards the lone air speeder parked on the landing pad on the opposite end of the alley. But Dellis no longer had the cover that the crowd provided him, making him a relatively easy target. Exactly what Eren needed. He unholstered his blaster and set it to stun. But before he could line up a shot, Dellis looked over his shoulder, raised his pistol, and fired.

Eren shouted in pain and surprise as the bolt struck him in the knee, causing him to trip and fall to the ground. "Kriff!" he cursed aloud. He looked up in time to see Dellis leap into the speeder. Ignoring the searing pain from his wound, Eren got back on his feet and ran as quickly as he could to the landing pad.

The speeder had lifted off and was now hovering a few meters above the pad. Before it was able to get lost in the endless stream of air traffic, Eren grabbed a small, round device off of his belt and hurled it at the vehicle. The device made contact and adhered to the speeder's rear hull just as it sped off into the night.

The burning pain in his knee had returned. He tightly gripped the wound in an attempt to alleviate the pain. Whistler rolled up along next to him and beeped twice.

"It's fine," Eren said. "His gun wasn't that powerful. Nothing a few happy thoughts can't fix."

Eren closed his eyes and began to concentrate, clearing his mind and drawing on the Force. One of the techniques he had learned as a Padawan allowed him to use the Force to mend wounds by accelerating his body's natural healing process. While he could heal effectively without as much concentration, meditation was required for him to recover more quickly and efficiently. Within moments, he could feel the pain being purged from his knee and the burned tissue being replaced, but his concentration was interrupted when he heard someone running down the alley behind him.

"Hey, kid!" a male voice called out. Eren opened his eyes and turned to see who was coming to confront him. Whistler turned with him and chirped inquisitively. Two Cornerians, a man and a woman, had stepped onto the landing pad with them. The man, a tall, tan vulpine, took a quick look around before asking, "Where is he?"

Eren sighed. "You're after Dellis, too, aren't you?" he asked. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Well, he just took off in an air speeder."

The woman, a chestnut fennec vixen, glared at him. "You lost him?" she asked angrily.

"I'm not one to let a bounty get away." Eren said coolly. He raised his right wrist and thumbed a switch on his wrist-link. A holographic map of Corneria City was projected a few millimeters above the device. A small red dot was moving rapidly past the ghostly blue images of the city's many skyscrapers. "I managed to secure a homing beacon aboard his speeder just before he left."

"So how do you plan on catching up with him?" The fox asked.

"My ship's engines are still hot," Eren replied. "I figured I would call it here and use it to catch up to that scum before it's too late," He paused for a second. Considering the mercenaries that he had run into back at the Viperian, he figured it was fair to assume that Dellis had some more hired muscle backing him up wherever he was headed. If Eren went after him alone, there was a good chance of him getting shot up. He needed some extra firepower backing him up. "Of course, you guys are free to tag along if you want to."

"You want us to come with you?" The fennec asked. "You seem like one of those 'I work alone' types."

"Hey, three guys and a droid is better than one guy and a droid." Eren said.

The vulpine thought for a second before saying, "Alright, we'll work together. But once we catch Dellis, we're splitting the bounty fifty-fifty."

Eren shrugged. "Fair enough." He closed the holographic map of the city and thumbed another switch on his wrist-link, signaling his starship to take off and fly to his location. "Okay, it's on its way."

"While we're waiting, you wanna tell us your name?" the vulpine said

"The name's Eren Tycho." Eren said, extending a hand. The fox accepted it and shook. "This little tee-three unit is Whistler."

Whistler let off a small stream of introductory beeps and chirps.

The fox smirked. "Fox McCloud." he said.

The fennec stepped forward and extended her hand. "I'm Fara Phoenix."

Eren took her hand and shook. "Good, now we all know each other." As he let go of her hand, he heard the unmistakable roar of a starship's engine that grew louder with each passing moment.

The disc-like figure of a _Dynamic-_class freighter flew in above them and began to descend towards the landing pad. The lights from the city shone onto the vessel, revealing the custom blue decals applied to the ship's hull. It was rather well armed; dorsal and ventral turbolaser turrets, twin heavy blaster cannons on each wingtip, and a proton torpedo launcher beneath the cockpit. Enough firepower to blast through a squadron of Mandalorian _Davaab-_type starfighters and probably enough to challenge a Cornerian Arwing in a dogfight.

The vessel dropped it's landing gear and set down a few meters away from the group. It's boarding ramp came down and made a dull _clank_ against the landing pad.

"Alright, everyone," Eren announced as he stepped towards the ship. "All aboard the _Blue Talon._"

* * *

Within minutes, the _Blue Talon _had taken off again and was soaring above the cityscape. The group had congregated in the cockpit. It was fairly spacious, leaving plenty of elbow room for anyone who would be sitting in any of the four seats taking up the floor, three of which were occupied.

Eren sat in the pilot's chair, keeping track of a red dot speeding past holographic representations of the Cornerian skyscrapers below. Whistler was resting on floor to the right of him. A small probe extended from his body and plugged into the _Talon's_ control system, allowing him to pilot the ship. Fox was reclining in the copilot's seat, his right foot resting on top of his left thigh and his hands clasped behind his head. His bright green eyes stared blankly at the cockpit's ceiling panels. Fara sat silently behind him in one of the two passenger chairs with her arms folded across her chest.

For the next fifteen minutes, an awkward silence had taken over the cockpit of the _Blue Talon_. A silence that went on uninterrupted until the young human in the pilot's seat finally spoke up.

"Hey, it looks like he stopped." Eren announced to the group. Upon hearing this, both Fox and Fara perked up their ears and turned to face the human.

"Where?" Fox asked.

"The signal's coming from the industrial district." Eren replied. "Looks like he set down his speeder at some sort of factory." He enlarged the display to show the large, box-like building off to the other passengers. A small red dot appeared on a single landing pad that protruded from one of the building's upper levels.

"I know that place," Fara piped up. "that's an old decommissioned Space Dynamics factory. What's Dellis doing there?"

Eren shrugged. "He's probably converted the place into a hideout. And if those mercs I ran into in the Viperian were any indication, there's probably going to be quite a few guards between him and us." He turned his head back towards the projection of the factory and looked at the lone landing pad. The red dot was missing. "Ah, sithspit."

"What is it?" Fox asked.

"He's on to us." Eren replied. "The homing beacon isn't transmitting anymore."

"Great," Fara groaned. "he knows we're coming."

"Well, Eren, I hope you're up for a firefight." Fox said. "I was hoping that we could pull this off subtly, but that doesn't seem like an option anymore."

Eren chuckled. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He said. "I can't stand sneaking around."

* * *

The _Blue Talon's_ landing gear extended and touched down on the landing pad. The boarding ramp dropped and Eren, Fox, and Fara came running out of the ship and onto the landing pad with Whistler rolling along behind them. They stopped in front of a large durasteel door. Eren hit a button on the control panel on the wall beside it, but the door didn't open.

"Locked," he muttered under his breath.

"Hey, short stuff," Fox said motioning towards Whistler. "See if you can open this door..." He paused, taking a look around for an access port that an astromech could interface with. He could not find one. "... that doesn't have a droid port. Great."

"Well, I can try to hot-wire this thing." Fara suggested.

"I've got this." Eren said as he stepped towards the door. He reached inside of his jacket and unclipped the dull-silver, cylindrical device strapped inside. With the press of a button, a meter long blade of incandescent yellow light materialized from the device.

Fox's eyes grew wide when he saw Eren plunge the blade into the door and begin to drag it around in a big circle. He knew exactly what the device was after seeing them in holovids and hearing stories about how powerful they were, yet he had never seen the iconic weapon of the Jedi order in person before. "A lightsaber," he almost whispered. "What are you, some sort of Jedi?"

"Long story. I'll tell you later." Eren said quickly. He completed the circuit he was drawing with the lightsaber and pulled the blade out of the door. With a little kick, the portion of the door he had cut fell to the floor on the other side and made a loud _clank_. "Come on." He said to his companions as he stepped through the glowing orange hole he made.

On the other side of the door, the building opened up into a long hallway lined with thick, glass windows on either side that overlooked the inactive conveyor belts below. The opposite end of the hall split into two conjoining hallways with a lone turbolift in the center.

Eren deactivated his lightsaber, but kept the hilt in his hand. Whistler had scooted up alongside him and Fox and Fara had taken up positions on either side of him, blaster pistols at the ready. Eren then closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching out with the Force and trying to pick up a hint of Dellis' presence. A few seconds passed before he found him amongst all of the other individuals in the building, no doubt mercenaries hired by Dellis. He was four levels below them and moving quickly. After further studying the layout of the factory whilst on board the _Talon_, Eren concluded that he could only be moving towards the building's main hangar bay.

"He's on the move," Eren said. "We better hurry."

Fox and Fara simply nodded, not bothering to question him about how he knew this, knowing the answer that they would get. They moved quickly down the hallway and called the turbolift up to their level. The tingling feeling in the back of Eren's head returned, and he heard a door hiss open down one of the conjoining halls and the noise of several pairs of boots running down the hall.

The group turned to face the source of the noise. Ten mercenaries, all outfitted in light combat armor and wielding blaster rifles, were sprinting down the hallway to meet them. The lead merc, a tall human male with a blond crew cut and a cybernetic right eye, ordered the men to halt and ready their weapons with a quick series of hand signals.

"Throw down your weapons, scum-bags!" The leader barked

Eren stepped forward and ignited his lightsaber. "Not on your life, pretty boy."

Whistler chirped his response and flipped open a panel on the top of his head, revealing the small blaster that Eren had fitted onto him.

The lead merc brought his rifle to bear and focused down the sights, the nine men behind him following suit. "Blast them!" he shouted.

A hail of crimson blaster bolts came scorching down the hallway. Fox and Fara both dove for cover, but Eren and Whistler stood their ground. The yellow blade of Eren's lightsaber had transformed into a frantic flurry of light as he deflected and redirected the blaster bolts flying at him. Whistler sat close beside him, firing off his own series of bright green bolts into the fray.

One of the mercs fell to dead to the ground from a fatal blaster wound to the chest and another beside him was hit right between the eyes with a redirected blaster bolt from Eren's lightsaber. Fox and Fara popped out from their cover spots to take a few shots at the mercs while they were still focusing on Eren. Two more mercs in the back of the group fell from two well placed shots from Fox's pistol, leaving only six mercs still standing by the time the turbolift arrived.

As he was backing up into the lift, Eren barely caught a blaster bolt coming straight for his head with the tip of his lightsaber and batted it back at the shooter. The bolt hit the lead merc square in the chest, penetrating his armor and knocking him to the ground. Once Whistler, Fox and Fara had joined him in the lift, Eren switched off his lightsaber and hit the button for the hangar bay with the butt of the hilt. Another volley of blaster fire passed the doors as they slid shut and the turbolift began it's descent.

The lift descended through the building slowly and lazily, making for a long and silent ride. Eren tried to focus on what was happening in the hangar bay, but had his thoughts interrupted once the smell of singed fur and burned flesh filtered into his nostrils. He turned around and saw Fara gripping her right arm tightly. He could barely make out the scorched black area underneath her hand.

"You alright?" Eren asked her.

"It's nothing. I'm fine." She replied, her oversized ears pressed almost flat against her head.

"You sure? That looks pretty painful."

"I said I'm fine."

"Alright, if you say so." Eren turned to look at Fox and asked, "Is she always this stubborn?"

Fox shrugged. "Not always," he said. "But she can be too proud for her own good, sometimes."

Fara responded by giving Fox a sharp elbow to the ribs. The tan vulpine laughed a little and slapped a hand on the fennec's shoulder. Eren smirked, the scene vaguely reminding him of the relationship he shared with his Jedi master when he was a Padawan learner.

The turbolift suddenly halted and a light winked on the control panel signaling that they had reached the hangar. Before the doors could slide open, Fox held down a button on the panel that kept them in place.

"He's probably getting ready to board his ship right now, so we need to do this fast." he said. "Fara, you stay with the droid and get the attention of any mercs that'll be in there. Eren, you and I will rush Dellis and stun him. Once he's out, we'll help Fara and the droid clear out any remaining mercs. Sound good?"

Eren and Fara both nodded and Whistler chirped in acknowledgment. Fox returned the nod and released the button. The lift doors slid apart and revealed the spacious hangar bay. There were two squads of mercs, a squad of eight and a squad of five, populating the hangar. Dellis was off towards the far right wall hefting a plasteel crate over to the small freighter resting in the center of the hangar. Once he saw the man who had chased him out of the Viperian, he dropped the crate and pointed towards the lift.

"Triple pay to whoever kills those bounty hunters!" Dellis barked. The mercs raised their weapons and powered them up. Fara dove behind a durasteel storage box for cover and unholstered her pistol, Whistler scooted up along next to her.

Eren and Fox both sprinted out of the lift after Dellis. Three mercs moved in to cover Dellis, but they were ended when Eren hurled his lightsaber in a wide arc. The blade sliced deeply across the chest of each man and returned to his out reached hand. Fox raised his pistol and fired two bright blue blaster bolts across the room. Both bolts hit their marks and two mercs collapsed to the ground with burning holes in their chests.

Dellis was making his way up the boarding ramp of his ship, but Eren was right behind him, blaster pistol raised and set to stun.

_And this time, I won't miss._ Eren thought to himself. He pulled the trigger and a series of ghostly blue stun rings fired from the barrel and hit Dellis right between the shoulder blades. The man collapsed to the ground, his body making a resounding _thud_ against the floor.

"Nice shot." Fox praised. Eren simply nodded in response. He looked over at the firefight raging across the hangar floor.

Fara popped out from behind the crate and fired another volley at the squad of mercs. Two of the three shots went wild, but one hit the squad leader dead in the eye, leaving only half of the squad standing. The pain in her arm was affecting her aim and Whistler wasn't doing very much to help her out. He would occasionally roll out from cover and fire a small series of bolts, only a few ever hitting their mark.

One of the mercs hurled a frag grenade across the hangar towards Fara and Whistler. The small, brown sphere made a dull _clank_ against the floor when it landed in between the two. Whistler gave off a stream of shrill beeps and chirps and moved quickly to avoid the explosive. Fara looked down at her heel and cursed once she saw the grenade.

The grenade detonated with a deafening _bang_ that echoed across the hangar bay. The force of the explosion had knocked Fara off her feet and blasted her several meters across the hangar floor. She hit the floor hard, bleeding from shrapnel and unconscious from the impact.

"Fara!" Fox shouted as he set off in a full sprint after the unconscious fennec. The remaining mercenaries turned their weapons on him and sent a series of blaster bolts scorching towards him. Fox slid behind a stack of crates to avoid what would have been a lethal volley of blaster fire. He peeked out from cover and returned fire, taking out one of the mercs with a single shot to the head.

The three remaining mercenaries all focused their fire on the vulpine behind the crates. Eren moved in to finish them off. With the flick of his wrist, he launched his lightsaber at the three men. The rapidly spinning blade cut clean through all three of their necks, decapitating them. Their bodies went limp and collapsed to the ground a second later.

Eren caught his lightsaber, switched the blade off and clipped it back into it's place inside his jacket. Fox ran over to Fara's unconscious body and knelt down next to her. He looked over her and assessed her injuries. It didn't seem like the shrapnel had hit any of her vital organs, but she was bleeding furiously.

Eren walked up beside the vulpine and looked down at the bleeding fennec. Whistler rolled along at his heel and gave off a small stream of beeps and chirps.

"She still with us?" Eren asked.

Fox nodded. "She's alive, but she's really banged up." he said. "I'm not sure how long she'll last."

"Let's get back to the _Talon_." Eren said. "I can keep her from bleeding out until we get her to a hospital or something."

"We'll take her back to my ship." Fox said quickly. "We've got a full medbay on board with a few kolto tanks."

Eren nodded in acknowledgment. "Alright, if you can carry her, I'll grab Dellis and we'll get going."

* * *

After situating himself on one of the chairs facing the small bunk Fara was laying on, Eren reached for his datapad and switched it on. After leaving the factory, he had taken care of dressing Fara's wounds and getting her bleeding under control with the _Talon's _limited medical supplies while Fox dropped off Dellis at a local Republic precinct and sorted out the distribution of the 15,000 credits.

Eren's datapad chirped, notifying him of a new message in his inbox. The message, sent from the Republic Correctional Authority, read:

** Eren Tycho,**

**Your involvement with the capture of the criminal Dash Dellis is very much appreciated. The RCA also recognizes your cooperation with mercenaries Fox McCloud and Fara Phoenix and a total sum of 7,500 Republic Credits has been wired to your account. Don't spend it all in one place.**

** -Captain Vero Vancil, Republic Correctional Authority**

Eren sighed and put his datapad back in it's leather housing on his belt. He stood up from his seat, walked out of the bunk room and made his way into the cockpit. Fox was once again sitting in the copilot's seat and Whistler was plugged into the ship's control system. Eren took a seat in the pilot's chair and reclined back, taking in the view of Corneria's atmosphere dissipating into the darkness of space.

"How's she holding up?" Fox asked looking over at the human sitting across from him.

"She'll make it, but she could really use that kolto right about now." Eren replied. "Speaking of which, where exactly is your ship?"

"We're coming up on it now." Fox said. "You see that cruiser over there?"

Eren looked in the direction the vulpine indicated. Once he saw the ship in question, his jaw dropped.

Suspended in front of the _Blue Talon _was a 450 meter long star cruiser. Four long wings, two attached to the main body on either side, extended from the ship's hull. Two massive blaster cannons were mounted underneath the bridge and several point defense batteries were set up along the ship's dorsal and ventral hull. Four massive ion engines propelled the vessel through space and the durasteel hull boasted a crimson red and white paint job along with the insignia of a winged fox adorning the rear hull.

"Say hello to the _Great Fox Two_." Fox said proudly.

"How did you manage to afford this?" Eren asked, dumbstruck at the vessel before him. "When you said you had a ship, I thought you meant a freighter or something, not a frelling star cruiser!"

Fox chuckled a little before answering, "Before the Lylat system was absorbed into the Republic, it was invaded by the Aparoids, a species of part-organic part-machine insects. They brought Lylat to it's knees, and the original _Great Fox_ was destroyed in the final battle against the Aparoid Queen. Once the whole ordeal was over, my team was paid a fortune by the Cornerian government for our involvement. And... well, it's pretty apparent what we spent it on."

Eren nodded as he took in everything Fox had told him. Though, in truth he was only half paying attention, focusing more on appreciating the massive ship in front of them. "So," he started as he turned to face Fox. "You said you had a whole team aboard the first _Great Fox_? How come it was just you and Fara going after Dellis back there?"

"That would be because the only other member of the team right now is seven months pregnant." Fox answered simply. "That would be my wife."

"Ah, right." Eren said awkwardly. "This your first kid?"

"Yep,"

"Congratulations."

* * *

The rest of the flight was spent in awkward silence. Once the _Blue Talon _set down in the _Great Fox II's _hangar bay, Fox and Eren wasted no time transferring Fara to the medbay on the ship's upper deck. It took a few minutes to get her properly situated in one of the three kolto tanks that took up most of the room. Eren was leaning up against the wall next to the door, Whistler sitting on the floor beside him.

After making sure that the kolto was doing it's job and all the machinery was operating properly, Fox turned away from the tank's control panel and looked across the room at Eren.

"She should be back on her feet in a couple of hours." he said. "Thanks for all your help, Eren."

"It was nothing." Eren said. "But, I guess I'd better get going. Come on, Whistler."

The astromech chirped in acknowledgment and followed the human out of the medbay door. Fox stayed in the medbay for a few moments longer, lost in thought. His team was not what it used to be. With only two active members while his wife was pregnant, larger jobs that payed greater credit sums were almost completely out of the question. Eren had been the one who salvaged the operation to capture Dellis. He took down almost two entire squads of mercenaries without taking a scratch and kept Fara from bleeding out after the frag grenade knocked her out cold. If he hadn't helped at every chance he did, Dellis would have gotten away, the team wouldn't have gotten paid, and Fara may have died. Eren would make a valuable addition to the team, indeed.

"Eren, wait!" Fox called, running down the hall to catch up with the human.

Eren turned to face him and cocked an eyebrow. "What's up?" he asked.

Fox sighed. "Look, I'm not going to lie to you," he started. "this team has seen better days. Right now, Fara and I are the only active members of the team and bounty jobs don't pay enough to keep this ship running. Why don't you join up with us? You're pretty good in a fight, we could use someone like you."

Eren took some time to think about his response. In the short time that he had known the vulpine, he was not able to form a full opinion of him yet. But, from what he could tell, Fox was a nice enough person and seemed like someone that he would enjoy to sit down and have a drink with. And, if he and Fara hadn't come along, taking down Dellis would have been a lot more difficult. Joining up with him would be an excellent change of pace from drifting between cantinas looking for bounties to hunt. And with only Whistler to talk to aboard the _Blue Talo__n_, being in the company of Fox and his crew would be very much preferable over the company of a lone T3 unit.

After a few seconds, Eren had made his decision. "Alright, why not?" he said with a grin. "Besides, I still owe you that story about my Jedi days."

Fox's face lit up. "Excellent," he said, extending a hand. Eren accepted it and shook.

"Welcome to Star Fox, Eren."

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: ...Yep, this took an unreasonably long time to get out. But, when you get sick and stay bedridden for three days, you don't really tend to get a lot of work done. Rest assured that I am still working on this story and will see it through to completion. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there is more coming.**


End file.
